SUNDAY, February 9, 2020
4:00-7:00pm111 Thayer Street, Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs, Joukowsky Forum, 1st floor
Film screening immediately followed by panel discussion
Alatah – עלטה
(Out in the Dark, 2012, by MICHAEL MAYER)
Moderator
NAJAT ABDULHAQ (Arab Film Festival Berlin)Panelists
MICHAEL MAYER (Film director and writer)
SA’ED ATSHAN (Swarthmore College)
RUTH BEN-ARTZI (Providence College)***
Out in the Dark (2012) is an Israeli drama film by Michael Mayer. In 2012 it was premiered at the Toronto Film Festival and at the Haifa International Film Festival. Numerous awards include the “Full Length Feature Films” award of the Haifa International Film Festival, the “Best Men’s Feature” of the Long Island Gay and Lesbian Film Festival, the “Best Film” of the Miami Gay and Lesbian Film Festival, and the “Best Feature Film” of the Torino International Gay & Lesbian Film Festival.
Plot: The film is set in Tel Aviv, where Palestinian student Nimer meets Israeli lawyer Roy at a gay bar. The drama is centered on the love affair between these two men, and on how the political conflict defines different societal and judicial asymmetries. Expected and unexpected situations in the West Bank and Israel—in their respective families, within the private and public domains—shape their relationship as they engage hurdles and confrontations, love and violence.
MONDAY, February 10, 2020
4:00-7:00pm111 Thayer Street, Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs, Joukowsky Forum, 1st floor
Film screening immediately followed by panel discussion
Omor Shakhsiya – أُمور شخصيَّة
(Personal Affairs; 2016, by MAHA HAJ)
Panel discussion
Moderator
KATHARINA GALOR (Brown University)Panelists
NADJE AL-ALI (Brown University)
LEMA MALEK SALEM (Independent scholar)
RAMI YOUNIS (Harvard Divinity School)***
Personal Affairs (2016) is a Palestinian drama film by Maha Haj. It was screened in the “Un Certain Regard” section at the 2016 Cannes Film Festival. Awards include the “Best Feature Film” at the Haifa Cultural Fund Award (the festival’s top prize), and the “Critics’ Prize” at the 38th Cinemed: Festival Cinéma Méditerranéen Montpellier, and the “Archie Award for Best First Feature” at the Philadelphia Film Festival.
Plot: In Nazareth, an old couple lives wearily to the rhythm of the daily routine. On the other side of the border, in Ramallah, their son Tarek wishes to remain an eternal bachelor, their daughter is about to give birth while her husband lands a movie role and the grandmother loses her head… Between check-points and dreams, frivolity and politics, some want to leave, others want to stay but all have personal affairs to resolve.
